Food and Resource Guarding

Contributed by Sisi Soh

When  Lucy was a wee puppy, the first friend she made was BG, who became her best friend. He was the same breed as her, the same color, and the best part was that he lived right next door! BG often came over to Lucy’s house for play dates, and when he was over, he often found Lucy’s leftover kibble in her bowl that she never finished and gobbled them up. I was a new dog owner then and hadn’t met the rest of the crazy dog ladies, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. That was a big mistake because about two months later, when Lucy was about six months old, BG went near her chew bone, and Lucy growled for the first time in her life. Since that day, she did it whenever BG went near her food. I believe this was because I never intervened as an owner, and she decided to take matters into her own hands.

I freaked out after that and got some help! That’s when I learnt about resource guarding. Usually this refers to food, treasured toys or sleeping areas, but some dogs treat their owners like the best treat in the world so it can even extend to their humans. Basically, a resource is anything that is considered by the dog to be of high value.

Guarding can range from a quiet head turn to a loud growl, forward charge or an actual bite. There is guarding between dog and human, and dog to dog (Lucy’s is the latter). Lucy always gave first a soft warning growl  (one I often missed because it was so soft), and then a quick air snap if the dog didn’t catch the hint. Resource guarding, if unchecked, can be a serious problem – for example, if a dog threatens to bite his human family when they try to take something away. Dogs must be willing to give up things they would rather keep, like their stuffed toy or bone. Resource guarding is a major cause of aggression toward humans, particularly children. Children often carry around toys and food where the dog can reach them. They also don’t understand how to respect a dog’s possessions and are more likely to grab at it without warning.

Here are a couple of things I did that you can also do for your dog if they have food/resource guarding.

First of all, your dog owns nothing! They’re all yours. If they are especially possessive over a food item or toy, take it and keep it until the behavior has improved.

1. Once something is in your dog’s mouth, it is too late to tell them to leave it. The only thing you can do is to tell them to spit it out. So teach and reward the “Drop it” command. Lucy used to be very attached to her dog toy – it was the only toy she wouldn’t release when she was told to  “Drop it”. So the best treats were reserved for this. Every time she dropped it for me, she was rewarded with 3-4 pieces of her favorite treats and then got to play tug, which she loves. These days, she drops her doggy immediately when told.

You can teach this cue by placing a high value treat under your dog’s nose when he is holding on to something he would rather keep. Your dog will inadvertently spit the item out to get the treat. After awhile, you can add the “Drop it” cue. Over a few weeks, you can practice asking your dog for the toy or treat, and then praise your dog for complying. Give them a treat when they drop it and then return the toy or food. The key is to trade for an item of greater value and assure them that they get it back.

Lucy and her beloved doggy go everywhere together.

2. Lucy could not share water bowls with the other Furry Tales members. If the other dogs came near her when she was drinking, she would growl. Eating near each other was also out of the question then. This can be remedied by feeding treats to your dog together with others, or encouraging your dog to have supervised meals alongside other calm dogs. Have your dog and another sitting side by side, and then treat one dog at a time making sure to have plenty of praise for your dog for not reacting.

Twinkle the Golden Retriever comes to stay with Lucy sometimes. Twinkle is a sweetie pie with a very mild temperament. She is also very respectful of Lucy and never tries to steal her food. I first let them eat together in the same room, but back to back, so Lucy couldn’t see her. If I noticed Lucy eating slower or glancing at Twinkle, I redirected her attention back to her food right away. Later on, I increased the criteria and let them eat close to each other. I still make sure I’m close by to monitor her when she eats with other dogs but she no longer growls when she shares the water bowl with her friends.

Lucy can now go fine dining with her friends. For water.

3. Olive also used to show her teeth and growl if owner Vicky tried to take away a high-value (real) bone from her. To slowly counter-condition Olive, she made sure that when she first gave her the bone, she didn’t let go of the other end of the bone, so Olive would be chewing on it as Vicky was also holding on to it. This way, Olive didn’t feel possessive over the bone. Another effective method Vicky used was to approach and show Olive another bone of the same value or higher as she was already munching on one, and swap the bones – the “Drop it” command came in very handy here and made it safer for Vicky to reach in and take the bone from Olive.

4. It is best never to hit, scare, or threaten your dog in order to get something from them, even if they snarl or growl. They are telling you to “Back off,” and that’s a warning message you want them to be able to express. Dogs that are punished for growling may go straight to biting. You also don’t want your dog to associate playing/eating around other humans/dogs in a negative way.

Part of Lucy’s “recovery” was doing all the above, and exposure to other dogs all the time. The other part could be that I got lucky and Lucy just grew up.